President Jakaya Kikwete has expressed his frustrations over the performance of some sports administrators in the country, saying they are failing on their duties.
Tanzania Sports Writers’ Association (TASWA) Chairman Juma Pinto presents Sports and Entertainment Honour to President Jakaya Kikwete in Dar es Salaam on Monday. Looking on are Minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports, Fenella Mukangara and National Sports Council Chairman Dioniz Malinzi. (Photo by Staff Photographer)
He made these remarks during an occasion organised by the Tanzania Sports Writers’ Association (TASWA) Gala night, to honour him for his contribution in sports development for the past ten years.
The event took place at the Mlimani City Hall in Dar es Salaam on Monday night. “I really don’t understand what is happening in our sports. There is nothing tangible that our sports leaders are doing than bossing around after being elected into their respective posts and this is hampering sports development,” he complained.
The president said he feels so bad to see the standard of sports continue taking a nosedive just because of a few irresponsible administrators, who fail to fulfil their responsibilities. He also cited lack of visionary sports leaders and limited investments on youth development programmes as another big setback for the country’s sports growth.
“I really feel bad to see the country’s athletes failing to perform well in different sports at the international level. It is all because of poor leadership… It is sad that some of our sports leaders only prefer to brag and boss around than being creative thinkers to help propel sports to a higher level,” complained the president.
The Head of State said he does not see the reason why the country is struggling to raise its bar in sports, while for the past ten years under his reign; the government has made efforts to put in place conducive environment for sports to thrive.
President Kikwete said immediately after coming into power in 2005, he personally made initiative to revive sports by among others reinstating school games and hiring experts to train local athletes but he was left disappointed by little thrust on the part of sports leaders. “I promised to help the associations to pay salaries of hired foreign experts to train our local teams.
We brought into the country several foreign coaches in different sports including football, netball, athletics and boxing. “It started positively with football after hiring Brazilian Marcio Maximo and I also took yet another personal initiative to attend football matches to create much needed hype and encourage support for our national team, Taifa Stars,” he said.
He said that there were also some positive signs from netball, where the national team (Taifa Queens) went to compete at the world stage in Singapore, then all of a sudden they collapsed as the team took a sharp plunge.
Nothing is going on as of today,” the president remarked. However, he insisted that all is not lost, saying the country could still reinvigorate when sports leaders wake up from their slumber and begin thinking positively.
To prove his commitment, President Kikwete said he has made one last move to support sports by initiating construction of a new state-of-the-art community based Sports Park, named after him at Kidongo Chekundu grounds in Dar es Salaam.
He will officially inaugurate the park on Saturday. He said the new park will give the youth in Tanzania a pubic facility and professional coaching, the likes of which they have not had access to before.
President Kikwete laid a foundation stone and planted a symbolic palm tree on the site late last year, to mark a milestone in the construction of park. JMK Park, constructed to the tune of 2 million US dollars (about 4bn/-) is part of Symbion Power, Grasshopper Soccer and English Premier League side Sunderland AFC’s groundbreaking football partnership with Tanzania.
He used the platform to salute local coach, Charles Boniface Mkwasa, for a good start in the 2018 World Cup qualifier but warned that the road ahead is tough. “It will not be easy against Algeria,” he warned, asking the team coach and players to up their socks, saying Algeria (Desert Warriors) are not unbeatable.
He also challenged the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), who have decided to part ways with foreign coaches and instead hire local trainer, to ensure that they pay him the same amount that the foreigners were getting.
The president lauded TASWA for honouring his leadership, saying he will advise CCM Presidential candidate, John Pombe Magufuli, to continue embracing sports. During the gala night, that was meant to bid farewell to President Kikwete, the association’s Chairman, Juma Pinto, presented a prize to the president in recognition of his tireless support for sports development during his ten-year leadership. Kikwete is a passionate fan of sports.
The association also used to platform to award ten athletes as well as five sports association officials who have excelled during Kikwete’s ten-year leadership. The athletes include Samson Ramadhan (athletics), Martin Sulle (athletics), Mary Naali (athletics), Mwanaid Hassan (netball) and Hasheem Thabeet (basketball).
Others are Taifa Stars squad that qualified for CHAN 2009 finals in Ivory Coast, national ladies golf team that finished second at the Africa challenge in Abuja, Nigeria in 2010, national ladies soccer team, Twiga Stars that made a maiden experience in the African Women Championship in 2010 in South Africa.
It as well made two appearances into the All African Games — 2011 in Maputo, Mozambique and 2015, Brazzaville Congo.
The list also has professional boxer Francis Cheka and TP Mazembe and Taifa Stars forward, Mbwana Samatta.
Five sports association officials who were awarded include Rtd General George Waitara for his efforts to construct a golf course at Lugalo, Iddi Kipingu for his investments on youth development programmes, Dioniz Malinzi for setting up a new golf course at Misenyi, in Bukoba, Leodegar Tenga for transforming TFF into a respected institution and presenter Abdallah Majura, for investing on a Radio station dedicated exclusively to sports.